Max Payne 3: Behind Bullet Time

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Why slow motion is back and better than ever.

By Greg Miller

There's a new Max Payne 3 trailer hitting the web today (Don't worry, I embedded it below.), but just showing you a fancy video and letting you be on your way isn't IGN style. Instead, I grabbed Art Director at Rockstar Games Rob Nelson and got answers to the burning questions about the return of Bullet Time.

IGN: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, Rob. Bullet Time's back. Uh, why should the world be excited?

Rob Nelson: Yes -- of course Bullet Time is back! Bullet Time is one of the core gameplay mechanics of a Max Payne game, impacting the design choices we make across the entire game, from the way Max moves to the AI of enemies, design of the weapons, the audio, and the way each bullet is modeled. The game is literally built around it, and no other game so thoroughly incorporates anything like it into every aspect of the game. The single biggest influence on the original Max Payne was not, in fact, film noir, but Hong Kong action movies, and in which gun play was both powerful and very beautiful and we wanted to stay close to that tradition.

IGN: What's new this time around? It seems like not much would change -- you slow down time and shoot people.

Rob Nelson: It's all about the depth at which we incorporate the mechanics. Bullet Time in Max Payne 3 has several functions. The first is strategic – that is, enemies in Max Payne aren't going to let you walk through a level in real time easily. Bullet Time will allow you to approach large groups of intelligent, heavily armed enemies and plot a precise, fluid line of attack through them. Targeting is more precise to make Max a more proficient killer, and Bullet Time replenishment is now skill-based, so targeting vital areas like the head or the heart will help you fill your meter more quickly. We've also incorporated Bullet Time into areas of the environment, so that entering an area will automatically trigger Bullet Time, both to give you some assistance at taking down a group of bad guys, but also to make for an epic, cinematic set piece.

And that's the other function of Bullet Time, of course -- to increase the cinematic and lifelike nature of the game: Bullet Time turns chaotic gunfights into a beautiful dance of bodies and ballistics. So we ramped up everything for Max Payne 3 -- environments are designed to shatter, splinter and explode in glorious detail thanks to the use of environmental physics and particle effects, and we're using literally thousands of custom animations alongside work with Natural Motion's Euphoria system so that Max moves realistically both in Bullet Time and real time.

The real implications for all that work and Bullet Time are in Max's shoot dodge -- it's gone from the old days of a simple set of animations to a fluid, lifelike movement in which Max is aware of his environment at all times -- you'll see him reach for objects as he dives over them or brace for impact from the ground or a wall. In general, this is adds to the level of realism within the game, but with time slowed down, every detail counts. And that's what we're going for with Max Payne 3: a game where every single detail -- every bullet, every time Max fluidly rolls while picking up a new weapon, every shoot dodge -- looks great and feels like a natural, integrated part of the game and the character.

This one's for you.

IGN: Tell me more about Last Man Standing. Why was that something you wanted to add?

Rob Nelson: The basic idea behind Last Man Standing is to give players a chance to recover from a fatal shot. If Max takes a fatal blow while he's carrying at least one painkiller, he'll automatically enter Bullet Time, and the reticule swings back to towards the enemy who shot Max. If Max can kill that enemy before hitting the deck, he'll get a portion of health back at the cost of one painkiller. It's not the most efficient use of painkillers so it's not something to be relied upon at all times, but it can get you out of a tough spot. It's our way of always giving players a fighting chance and to constantly keep them in the action, even on the precipice of death. On the harder difficulty settings, players won't be able to rely on Last Man Standing.

IGN: What's your favorite addition and why?

Rob Nelson: Everyone here is really excited about the environmental Bullet Time. There's at least one moment in every level when Max triggers a sequence that automatically shifts him into Bullet Time. These moments are typically epic, large-scale action scenes that allow Max to perform some incredibly stylish kills while using his surroundings to his utmost advantage. The best part is that these moments aren't pre-canned quicktime events -- players will have full control over Max's aim as he takes out enemies.

One of our favorites is a moment during the Bus Depot level. Max finds himself trapped on the second story of a warehouse with enemies pouring in through a door on the first floor. He leaps off the ledge, grabs onto a hanging hook attached to a pulley system and starts unloading on the enemies down below. It still amazes us to see Max move so fluidly as he dangles from the hook and seamlessly transitions into a point of cover down below.

IGN: Do these improvements make this the definitive Bullet Time in the history of video games? Why?

Rob Nelson: We hope so. More than most shooters, Max is about the act of shooting, about it looking and feeling incredible, about watching your character move though the world with style and not just racking up faceless kills. Max Payne has always been about celebrating the character and his artistry with a weapon, and the work that's gone into evolving Bullet Time is the perfect embodiment of what we're trying to do with Max Payne 3.

That hurts.

IGN: Max Payne pretty much invented Bullet Time, but a lot of games have used it since then. Is that flattering or infuriating?

Rob Nelson: It goes back to the idea that Bullet Time is more than just slow motion. In a fast moving creative industry, good ideas don't go unnoticed and people often borrow popular ideas or mechanics. We've used slow-motion techniques in other games ourselves -- Red Dead Redemption used a form of slow-motion targeting called Dead Eye. But that's not Bullet Time. Bullet Time is an approach to gameplay that goes beyond a specific feature, it's about reveling in the details of each individual shot and what the means for the character. Max Payne brought Bullet Time to videogames and through the emphasis on Max as a character, shifted the outlook of shooters from strictly body count to the idea of a character's dark journey and what it took for him to get there, and in which narrative and cinematic action were both central to the game's ethos. In that sense, there aren't very many games like Max Payne at all.